Who is Rey’s grandfather (as revealed in Episode IX)?

The story behind the answer

The Rise of Skywalker reveals Rey descends from the former Emperor, which explains her spontaneous Force lightning on Pasaana and why he seeks her as heir to the Sith legacy. Luke and Darth Vader are part of the Skywalker lineage—Rey only adopts that name symbolically at the end. Ben Solo (Kylo Ren), though deeply connected to her as a Force dyad, is a contemporary, not an ancestor.

Canon materials add that the Emperor’s “son” was a non–Force-sensitive clone (a strandcast) who fathered Rey, while the Sith Eternal worked to restore their master on Exegol. This lineage twist underscores Star Wars’ core themes: the pull of bloodline and destiny versus the power of chosen identity, as Rey rejects her inherited darkness to define her own path.